JadeCraven.Org – Blogs About Nature

GoPro Adventures At Eastern Beach: Late Spring, 2018

jade@jadecraven.com — November 19, 2018

These photos were taken on November 17. We mostly put the GoPro in the water at the deeper areas of the promenade.

On the seafloor

We were in the middle of the promenade, near the diving tower. We were getting footage near where some snorkellers were about to get out. One offer to take the GoPro down to the bottom of the seafloor! Seth was so excited to look at the footage when we got back to my parents house. He even made me pick up my laptop so we could see it ASAP. Footage showed a glimpse of a fish but nothing much came up when looking at individual frames. It’s definitely a sign that we need to go snorkelling and do more underwater exploring 🙂

Paradise Picnic Ground: Spring, 2018

jade@jadecraven.com — October 10, 2018

Apollo Bay Harbour After The Sand Excavation: Spring, 2018

jade@jadecraven.com — October 9, 2018

This was our first full day in Apollo Bay. After exploring the rockpools the night before, I was keen to see what they looked like during the day.

We were able to see just how sandy the harbour was. I struggled to find much wildlife, although I did get better photos of those orange ascidians. Will be fascinated to compare with future visits and document the changes. If possible, I’d like to contribute to scientific research regarding this – if there even is any!

Apollo Bay Rockpools at night: Spring, 2018

jade@jadecraven.com — October 8, 2018

It was our first night in Apollo Bay. Mum and I went to the rockpools in the harbour alone that night. It was the first time we had visited since sand had been moved from the harbour to ‘help’ stop erosion on the main beach. As a result, the rockpools looked very different.

We didn’t find the animals we usually see. There seemed to be less starfish and almost no elephant snails.

We kept on seeing this orange ascidian everywhere, which was curious as we hadn’t seen it that often before. I don’t know if it was already prescent and the sand removal meant that we were seeing different rockpools, or whether its presence was entirely independent.

Sea Cucumbers at Eastern Beach

jade@jadecraven.com — July 27, 2018

We ended up finding 3 specimens. This occurred on the same day as finding all the jellyfish.

1

Seth and I saw this at the same time, but he was the first to remember what it was called. Suspect it is the soft sea cucumber, Australostichopus mollis.

Washed Up Jellyfish Along Eastern Beach

jade@jadecraven.com — July 26, 2018

Yesterday, Seth and I went to Eastern Beach. We’d had two separate periods of windy weather in the past 2 weeks – which coincided with the days that Sethy and I went to test out the Gopro. Both times we had gone to the beach on sunny days following these storms.

There was a lot of Jellyfish both times. The first had about 30 dead bodies scattered along the beach leading up to the promenade. Yesterday, though, there were hundreds. You could also see many more floating in the water nearby in some sections.

I have no idea why they died, although I suspect the stormy weather was related. I thought it was noteworthy and tried to photograph any different species that I saw.

Experimenting With The Gopro At Eastern Beach

jade@jadecraven.com — July 18, 2018

On the weekend, Seth and I went to Eastern Beach to test out the Gopro. We had started at Rippleside, because often you can get interesting creatures along that walk, but the conditions weren’t right. We did see some crabs near Rippleside and had fun with them, but I was wanting to experiment on other sea life.]

Eastern beach itself was a bit of a letdown. Partially because it was getting later in the afternoon, but I suspect the time of year had something to do with it. We were lucky enough to see, and film, a jellyfish but couldn’t find much other sea life swimming. Previously we have found fish and stingrays.

Instead, I let Seth put the Gopro under the promenade himself. We couldn’t see the footage until we got home, which was annoying, but was surprised at the variety of sealife that had made homes on the wooden and metal supports around the walkway. I haven’t tried to identify anything, as uni takes up a lot of my free time. However, I thought it was worth documenting regardless. Looking forward to experimenting more with the camera before the really hot weather hits.

The Jellyfish

Life On The Wood

Life On The Swimming Enclosure Bars

Life On The Sea Floor

Fungi at Distillery creek: Mid Winter

jade@jadecraven.com — July 17, 2018

The fungi here was different to Moggs Creek. We didn’t find much diversity along the nature trail itself, but started to find some when heading over to the main picnic ground to head to the loo. It may be worth doing the walk between the picnic grounds to see what I can find.

Bracket

Jelly Fungus

Fungi at Moggs Creek Picnic Ground

jade@jadecraven.com — July 16, 2018

Moggs Creek is a fantastic location for fungi. The walk here is damper and not used as much as the one at Distillery Creek. I found a lot more diversity in fungi. I struggled to photograph it all as my legs were struggling with the walk. Lack of fitness aside, I believe that this walk and the surrounding areas should be visiting frequently in winter as it looks like it changes quickly.

I’ve tried to organize the photos according to the type of fungi but am not confident in my tentative categorization.

Bracket Fungi

Jelly Fungus

Coral Fungi

Black Shouldered Kite Near Rippleside

jade@jadecraven.com — July 15, 2018

Yesterday, Seth and I were walking from St Helens Park to Eastern Beach to test out my Gopro. We hadn’t seen much along the (new) path between St Helens and Rippleside. Then we saw a kite in the distance.

Awesome! I didn’t bother trying to get a photo as it was too far away. Minutes later, it was directly over us. Yes! I snapped as many photos as I could before it flew away.

I told Seth that if he was patient and let me get the photos, I’d let him use Glenns camera for a bit. The kite perched in a tree, so I immediately let Seth use the camera. The behaviour was different in the tree this time. The kite was bending over a lot.

“I think it caught something and is eating it!”

I was right. Part of me was disappointed that I couldn’t capture it, but I’m pretty impressed with the photos Seth got. It’s great detail considering he has no technical knowledge and doesn’t understand how the lens focuses. Brilliant shots considering the circumstances. 🙂